2024 World Cruise Itinerary change

[CAG]

Due to the continued situation in the Red Sea, Oceania notified the 2024 Around the World cruisers tonight of our revised itinerary.  We will depart from Dubai on May 14 and head around Africa reaching the Canary Islands on June 21. So far we are confirmed until June 26 in LaCoruna, Spain.  They are still working on confirming a preferred itinerary that will continue to take us to Greenland and some Canadian ports.  Definitely lots of changes, but absolutely necessary for our safety.

[daydreamer62]

Better to be safe but Oh dear that's sad for those like us who were booked on the Barcelona to London segment. I guess that will be cancelled.

Edited February 8 by daydreamer62

[ATWCruiser]

If anyone can please post the updated itinerary and map with the changes that would be great.  Thanks!

[Tranquility Base]

6 hours ago, daydreamer62 said:

that's sad for those like us who were booked on the Barcelona to London segment. I guess that will be cancelled.

Check out the roll call.

There is the new itinerary posted....although they are still working on two options towards the end. 

[Tranquility Base]

I guess Riviera changes will be next.

 

A huge task with many changes coming up.

Riviera's May 29th, Trieste - Trieste, 29 day cruise originally was ALL ports.

Not a single sea day in the 29 days.

Edited February 8 by Tranquility Base

[daydreamer62]

15 minutes ago, Tranquility Base said:

Check out the roll call.

There is the new itinerary posted....although they are still working on two options towards the end. 

Yes unfortunately they don't even get to Spain until after we were supposed to have disembarked in London. So sad.  It was such a perfect itinerary for me! 

I guess it's back to the drawing board or resort to a road/rail trip

[MJfromCA]

1 hour ago, daydreamer62 said:

Yes unfortunately they don't even get to Spain until after we were supposed to have disembarked in London. So sad.  It was such a perfect itinerary for me! 

I guess it's back to the drawing board or resort to a road/rail trip

 

Lauren, I feel exactly the same way about this Barcelona-Southampton itinerary for our segment. It was perfect, and rare among the Western Med cruise itineraries.

 

Even though I'm disappointed, I understand why they had to do it. Wishing everyone safe travels.

Edited February 8 by MJfromCA

[daydreamer62]

I was also pretty impressed how fast the cancellation letter came with the offer of credit toward airfares already booked . I'm contemplating another cruise at a similar time so all is not lost. 

[daydreamer62]

I dont muck around either I must say - Ive rebooked ourselves already - Trieste to Athens - its a shorter cruise but has some nice ports ( Croatia and Bari have been on my list for some time)- Ive been to Venice multiple times so might stop somewhere else on the way in - maybe Verona for a day or so. Oceania are covering the airfare change fees and the cruise is on a good discount and cheaper than the original so Im going to keep the return flight from London on the date we were due to fly out and go somewhere in between Athens and there ( Maybe Bordeaux, and or maybe a Greek Island at the end of the cruise for a couple of days )

[basor]

48 minutes ago, daydreamer62 said:

I dont muck around either I must say - Ive rebooked ourselves already - Trieste to Athens - its a shorter cruise but has some nice ports ( Croatia and Bari have been on my list for some time)- Ive been to Venice multiple times so might stop somewhere else on the way in - maybe Verona for a day or so. Oceania are covering the airfare change fees and the cruise is on a good discount and cheaper than the original so Im going to keep the return flight from London on the date we were due to fly out and go somewhere in between Athens and there ( Maybe Bordeaux, and or maybe a Greek Island at the end of the cruise for a couple of days )

How to make Lemonade (or limoncello) out of lemons!

[PBtroy]

We had a GREAT deal for the Dubai to Barcelona leg going through the Red Sea.  Of course we anticipated an itinerary change, and thought it would turn into a 24 day cruise down the east coast of Africa maybe starting somewhere other than Dubai.  Didn't expect the cancellation notice today.  Oh well...

[daydreamer62]

11 minutes ago, PBtroy said:

We had a GREAT deal for the Dubai to Barcelona leg going through the Red Sea.  Of course we anticipated an itinerary change, and thought it would turn into a 24 day cruise down the east coast of Africa maybe starting somewhere other than Dubai.  Didn't expect the cancellation notice today.  Oh well...

Yes I thought perhaps they would start going south after Mumbai in order to get around and back up to Barcelona - but then that was solely thinking from my selfish point of view.  Oh well - hopefully that itinerary will turn up again another year 

[PBtroy]

Lauren, funny you should have mentioned next year.  We had just said to each other that we would have to look for it next year.  It had a nice bunch of sea days up through the Red Sea, which we love more than a lot of ports.  We did another segment a few years ago for 35 days from Hong Kong to the cape with 17 ports, and I can't recall much about a lot of them.  Of course this couldn't be ageing.

[BEEZLEE]

Hi PBtroy…since the Red Sea sailing was cancelled, did O provide you with a Future Cruise Credit ?

[PBtroy]

The Email in part:

 

We have been monitoring the situation in the Red Sea and despite our best hopes that it would de-escalate, prudence dictates that we alter our published voyage itineraries that were to transit through the region. This includes Insignia’s 2024 Around the World cruise, of which your sailing was a segment.

 

With this in mind, we must cancel your booked voyage aboard Insignia that was scheduled to depart Dubai on May 13 due to the re-routed Around the World cruise itinerary.

 

You will automatically receive a full (100%) refund to the original form of payment received by Oceania Cruises of all funds that have been applied to your reservation. If a Future Cruise Credit was utilized as payment in part or in whole, the same amount will be credited back to a Future Cruise Credit. Future Cruise Credits do not expire. All government taxes along with ancillary items purchased through Oceania Cruises will also be refunded. Ancillary items eligible for refund include Oceania Cruises’ travel protection, transfers, shore excursions, hotel/land packages, air add-ons and fees, visas, pre-purchased beverage packages and culinary experiences.

[clo]

2 hours ago, PBtroy said:

The Email in part:

 

We have been monitoring the situation in the Red Sea and despite our best hopes that it would de-escalate, prudence dictates that we alter our published voyage itineraries that were to transit through the region. This includes Insignia’s 2024 Around the World cruise, of which your sailing was a segment.

 

With this in mind, we must cancel your booked voyage aboard Insignia that was scheduled to depart Dubai on May 13 due to the re-routed Around the World cruise itinerary.

 

You will automatically receive a full (100%) refund to the original form of payment received by Oceania Cruises of all funds that have been applied to your reservation. If a Future Cruise Credit was utilized as payment in part or in whole, the same amount will be credited back to a Future Cruise Credit. Future Cruise Credits do not expire. All government taxes along with ancillary items purchased through Oceania Cruises will also be refunded. Ancillary items eligible for refund include Oceania Cruises’ travel protection, transfers, shore excursions, hotel/land packages, air add-ons and fees, visas, pre-purchased beverage packages and culinary experiences.

Wow. Took 'em long enough to figure tis out.

[daydreamer62]

On 2/10/2024 at 3:23 AM, BEEZLEE said:

Hi PBtroy…since the Red Sea sailing was cancelled, did O provide you with a Future Cruise Credit ?

Full refund not cruise credit 

[mjobtx]

For the around the world passengers, the decision about what to offer was woefully insufficient given the drastic change. In the last 60 days alone, sea days increased from 18 to 32 (78%) to the point that sea days are now 53.3% of the itinerary. After a letter signed by 156 ATW passengers was sent to Carlos Ortega, Frank A. Del Rio and others; Oceania offered an FCC worth  5% of the fare. It was originally restricted to use only on the 2025 and 2026 ATW and/or their segments. Oceania removed that restriction at the time they offered the 5% FCC. 

 

A second letter will soon be sent because from the perspective of the number of ports and port hours, ATW passengers will have lost 13% of the expected experience of the cruise. We shall see if Oceania responds and if they do, what their response will be to their most loyal and highest spending clients. 

 

It should be said that both Viking and Royal Caribbean had to make similar changes for the same reason. Both made more appropriate adjustments and provided significantly more options. 

[pinotlover]

I would think the larger question for Oceania is how many of those 25 &26 ATWer are going to look at this and bail?

[ATWCruiser]

Good to hear ATW 2024 passengers got something back.  So, no compensation for those that want to depart in Dubai? Sorry to hear that these changes spoil somewhat what should be a fun cruise.

 

ATW 2025 is not going through the Red Sea so itinerary is probably not going to change.  ATW 2026 is going through the Red Sea but I am prepared for an itinerary change in case the situation in the Middle East doesn't improve.  I am mainly going on ATW 2026 for the Vista ship and if the ship gets rerouted to Africa, I'll be okay as I never been around that area but it would be nice to get some compensation.  So, the situation for ATW 2024 will dictate what I should expect.

[mjobtx]

While we know that Oceania has no control over the weather and the political situations in the world; they do control how they respond. In addition to the changes made because of the Red Sea conflict, three other ports were missed because of weather or other reasons. The sea days are starting to increase significantly. If no more ports are missed, sea days will represent 42.8% versus 30% of the total itinerary. The reduction in ports visited is significant. And the time in many some ports old and new has been reduced making it difficult to have a decent experience. 

 

The message that we are receiving from Oceania's response is that loyal, high spending clients are not valued and that we can be replaced. We probably can but we expected better. At the very least we expected Oceania match the responses that Viking and Royal Caribbean made their clients affected by the same circumstances. 

 

 

 

[no-name-at-all]

We’re thinking about going on the complete 2026 world cruise.  Does anyone know about how many duplicate bridge tables there have been throughout the 2024 Oceania world cruise?